Category Archives: Science

FLIES AND ZEBRAS.

FLIES AND ZEBRAS. Yong writes about new experimental evidence which supports the theory that stripes protect the zebra against flies. Zebras are vulnerable to bites of horseflies and tsetse flies which carry fatal diseases. Watching and filming showed that flies … Continue reading

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HOW THE ZEBRA GOT ITS STRIPES.

HOW THE ZEBRA GOT ITS STRIPES. The caption is meant to remind you of the titles of Kipling’s “Just So Stories”—such as “How the Elephant Got His Trunk”, which begins: “In the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best … Continue reading

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HOW DID THE YAMNAYA —WHO WERE LATE ARRIVALS— PREVAIL?

HOW DID THE YAMNAYA —WHO WERE LATE ARRIVALS— PREVAIL? Reich says: “it is clear that the single most important source of ancestry across northern Europe today is the Yamnaya or groups closely related to them.” (p. 119) But the Yamnaya … Continue reading

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MIGRATION OR THE SPREAD OF CULTURE?

MIGRATION OR THE SPREAD OF CULTURE? During the last fifty years there have been debates over whether inventions and influences in the distant past resulted from migrations or from the spread of culture—-for example, by traders. Ancient DNA thus far … Continue reading

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JOLABOKAFLOD—ANCIENT DNA.

JOLABOKAFLOD—ANCIENT DNA. Mary Jane and I were so excited by the scientific breakthroughs with ancient DNA that we jointly gave ourselves for Christmas WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE GOT HERE by David Reich and ANCESTRAL JOURNEYS by Jean Manco. … Continue reading

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HOSPITALS AND SLEEP.

HOSPITALS AND SLEEP. Once when she was awakened by a nurse in a hospital with the question: Do you know where your are?”, Mary Jane replied: “Yes. I’m in Hell.” This article by Maureen Salomon about a recent study of … Continue reading

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TAR AND VIKINGS.

TAR AND VIKINGS. This article by Robin McKie in the Guardian (November 4, 2018) begins: “Vikings conquered Europe thanks to an unexpected technological innovation. They learned how to make tar on an industrial scale and used it to waterproof their … Continue reading

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ELEPHANTS AND BEES—BEE FENCES.

ELEPHANTS AND BEES—BEE FENCES. Apparently, bees are the only species (except for humans) that elephants are afraid of. This wikipedia entry describes bee hive fences, which consist of a single strand of wire connecting bee hives set ten yards apart. … Continue reading

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THE PRICE OF ILLUMINATION IN LUMENS

THE PRICE OF ILLUMINATION IN LUMENS. Nordhaus has a table on page 49 of his paper which shows the prices of different lighting technologies in terms of illumination in cents per thousand lumen-hours. He begins with open fires; then neolithic … Continue reading

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NORDHAUS ON WHO BENEFITS FROM TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE.

NORDHAUS ON WHO BENEFITS FROM TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE. After the announcement of the Nobel Prize, Professor Donald Boudreaux posted here at the Cafe Hayek site to call attention to Nordhaus’s 2004 paper “Schumpeterian Profits in the American Economy: Theory and Measurement”. … Continue reading

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